Petition · past parliament
Keep children rear facing till age 4
Rejected
16 signatures
What the petition asks
Rear facing a child till age four, or as long as possible, is 5x safer than forward facing.
The British Medical Journal published a report on 11th June 2009 stating that rear facing seats are safer than forward facing seats for children under 4 years or age.
The British Medical Journal published a report on 11th June 2009 stating that rear facing seats are safer than forward facing seats for children under 4 years or age.
In Sweden between July 2006 and November 2007 not one child under the age of six was killed in a car crash. Children in Sweden sit rear facing until the age of four under the car seat safety standard LAW.
A child’s neck only needs to stretch more than a quarter of an inch before snapping/breaking.
During a frontal collision, in a forwards facing car seat, the child is flung forward. As the child's head flung/stretched forward taking on 300kg of loading within the neck at just 30mph.
A child’s neck only needs to stretch more than a quarter of an inch before snapping/breaking.
During a frontal collision, in a forwards facing car seat, the child is flung forward. As the child's head flung/stretched forward taking on 300kg of loading within the neck at just 30mph.
Why it was rejected
It was not clear what the petition asked the UK Government or Parliament to do.
Petitions need to ask for a specific action from the Government or Parliament. For example, you could consider starting a petition asking Parliament change the law to require rear-facing car seats for under-4s.
Timeline
| 22 Oct 2015 | Petition opened for signatures |
| 1 Nov 2015 | Rejected by the Petitions Committee |
Key facts
Signatures
16
Status
Rejected
Rejected
1 Nov 2015
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Source: the official petition page. Last checked 15 Jul 2026.